Satellite Internet in Paraguay, South America

Is there a possibility to install the
broadband satellite system in Paraguay?
If so what are the costs for it and who is the provider of the
equipment?

Please let me know.

Thanks for your help.

JJ

Daniel Oviedo
Guest

Re: Sat in Paraguay??
« Reply #1 on: 14. Jan 2005 at 18:50 »

Hi, I am also interested in setting up a
satellite internet connection in Paraguay. Please let me know if
you get any information. Thank you.

Tom
Guest

Re: Sat in Paraguay??
« Reply #2 on: 25. Jan 2005 at 11:12 »

As far as I know Internet via satellite in
South America is not recommendable at the moment. The only
possible way seems to be a 2-way communication unit, where up-
and downstream are carried out by the satellite directly. While
browsing the web on further information I found out that the
total bandwidth of the satellite (Atlantic Bird 1 @ 12,5°W) is
about 15-20 MBit. With an estimated 3000 users being online at
the same time there's only a rough 5-6.5 kBit available for each
user. Not much more than the standard modem connection can come
up with...
Of course those bandwidth estimates can vary, e.g when some user
is using heavy-traffic tools like file-sharing, etc.

If you consider the rather expensive equipment for a
2-way-solution (Hardware ~ 3.000 US$) and the moderate monthly
rates (between 300-1000 US$) I don't think you could count that
as an alternative.
The only way would be Eutelsat increasing bandwidth on the AB1,
but with a cost of several million US$ line-lease per
Transponder I don't think things will change a lot in the near
future...
I want you to know that I still didn't give up on that issue. As
soon as I come up with something new I'll let you know.

Far from each satellite being limited to 10-12 MB, one satellite
transponder used for broadband internet can typically provide a
composite 48MB bit-stream. HNS/Direcway - over North America for
example - leases over two dozen transponders on 7 satellites,
each dedicated to broadband satellite internet use. There are no
exact numbers published that I'm aware of, but educated sources
consider 8000 users (per transponder) normal and 12,000 crowded.
Remember, they oversell this service intentionally, banking on
the principle that the entire population will never all be using
the service at the same time; shared bandwidth.

In the early days, I paid about $600 USD for my hardware, which
included freight/tax/installation. Recent price drops cut that
figure nearly in half. My two way service costs $60 USD per
month. I think that figure may be dropping this year as well.
My uploads leave a bit to be desired, typically 30-50 Kbps.
I've reached 110 on a good day single digits on a bad one.
Downloads are dynamic, depending upon how much bandwidth is
being shared at any given instant. Typically I'm in the 1-2 Mbps
window, but it has on rare occasions dipped down near modem
speeds - and I've seen high as a combined 6.7 Mbps on 5
simultaneous downloads.

Negotiated transponder leases are probably somewhere in the
neighbourhood of $150,000 USD per month.